Neil Pearson used to spend summer nights with his windows open and relaxing on his front deck. Now, he says, he’s often forced to shut the windows instead.
“We have to close our windows on the front of our house,” said Pearson, who lives near The Clemow, a 17-storey apartment building at the intersection of Bronson and Carling avenues aimed at older residents. “We can’t have full enjoyment of our home.”
Nearly a year after residents first complained about a loud continuous humming noise from the building’s rooftop cooling equipment, they are renewing their push for action as the dispute enters a second summer. Their concerns persist even after recent City of Ottawa bylaw testing found no violations following changes to the cooling system.
Lawn signs that first appeared last summer have returned to the surrounding neighbourhood, declaring “The Clemow Is Noisy!!”
Residents and the Glebe Community Association say a separate planning process is still underway to determine whether the building complies with Ontario’s environmental noise standards.
Capital Coun. Shawn Menard said his office has spent months working with bylaw officials, the apartment property’s owner and nearby residents in an effort to reduce the disturbance.
According to an update published in a recent newsletter to residents, Menard said bylaw officers tested the cooling system in late May after the building installed a variable frequency drive designed to reduce fan noise.
The testing, conducted during the day and at night with the system operating at full capacity, found no bylaw violations.
Menard wrote that officers heard only a faint hum directly on Clemow Avenue that was generally drowned out by nearby residential air conditioners.
However, Menard also says the feedback he’s heard from residents has been mixed, with some reporting the noise level from the Clemow has improved, while others say it remains similar to last summer.
“There remain steps that KTS (the property owner) needs to undertake as part of the planning process that require them to demonstrate compliance with the province’s environmental noise guidelines by way of a Stationary Noise Assessment before this matter is closed,” Menard wrote.
In a statement, KTS Properties said it had been working with the city and nearby residents to address their concerns.
The company said it installed the variable frequency drive in April before co-ordinating bylaw testing and additional testing by its third-party acoustic consultant, Gradient Wind Engineering.
KTS Properties said Gradient Wind was finalizing a stationary noise assessment and noise certification letter that would be submitted to the city for review as part of the site’s planning approval process.
The company added that it supported having the community’s own acoustic consultant independently review the findings.
“We are committed to meeting all of our obligations and to being a responsible neighbour in the Glebe community,” KTS Properties said in a statement. “We respect the city’s review process and trust it will provide the appropriate forum for confirming compliance.”
Pearson said residents believed the spring testing did not tell the full story because the rooftop cooling system worked hardest during periods of extreme heat.
“You only pick it up when it starts to get into those high 20s to early 30s,” he said. “You obviously have to have those intense days of heat when the fan has to operate.”
Pearson is among a group of neighbours who have spent the past year organizing, hiring an independent noise consultant and advocating for further action.
Pearson said residents wanted the final assessment to be made public and independently reviewed before the city determined whether the building had met its planning requirements.
If the assessment finds that further mitigation is needed to meet provincial guidelines, he said, the developer should be required to complete that work.
“It’s a much bigger issue than just one building,” he said. “This is a test for the city.”
The Glebe Community Association has continued to back the neighbours’ efforts.
After passing a motion last fall calling for the issue to be addressed, the association approved another motion this past week supporting residents’ advocacy on the issue.
“We were approached by residents and asked to pass another motion to try to move things on,” said John Crump, president of the Glebe Community Association. “As a community association, there’s very little we can do other than advocate.”
Crump said residents continued to tell the association they could still hear the noise, although experiences varied depending on where they lived.
“Some people say it sounds the same as last year,” he said. “There’s obviously more work that needs to be done.”
He said the case also raised broader questions as the City of Ottawa approved more high-rise developments.
“If another tower is constructed and they don’t comply with these provincial standards, yes, it’s going to be an ongoing problem,” Crump said. “We’re really quite perplexed at why it hasn’t been fixed.”
For Pearson, the issue isn’t just about one summer or one building.
“I think when we look back at this in hindsight, there’s a gap in the process at City Hall,” he said. “If we get the right result here, this can become a test case for how these kinds of buildings are handled in the future.”
